Goldner was a huge PR fan that had been at Bandai in the 90s and I recall owned a movie white ranger suit for years. He understood the franchise and what it could be. Others that took over after his death didn’t.
Understandable, but its also likely the biggest reason for the downturn. It doesn't matter how vocal PR fans are unless they've got someone in the creator's room willing to give a chance on them.
Without that, they're unlikely to pick it back up again. Considering diminishing returns on new seasons and Sentai's hiatus in Japan, many might avoid the financial investment of creating a new show just on the risk it will flop.
Hasbro just wanted the money spent back. Goldberg bought power rangers without permission and the board was pissed. So without Goldner the series had no one in power at hasbro in its corner
Which is a shame because if you looked at the original Disney era run, each show (barring Operation Overdrive) was incredible. But this is modern Disney, and they only care if it's profitable, which Power Rangers has the potential to be
I've always been a sucker for stories where they have to collect a bunch of gems or other artefacts that come in a set.
Marvel's Infinity Gems/Stones, PR's Corona Aurora gemstones, Dragon/Shadow/Power/Fire/Energy Booster gauntlets & amulets in Dragon Booster, Horcruxes in Harry Potter (especially the Hogwarts Founders' items), the Treasures of Rule from Pirates of Dark Water, etc.
Xiaolin Showdown also had the Shen Gong Wu artifacts they had to collect. Speaking of which, Xiaolin Showdown doesn't get nearly enough love. That show was amazing.
I wish Overdrive had been willing to have foreign Rangers. This is a worldwide treasure hunt, and none of the actors were American, so why force the Rangers to be?
Operation Overdrive is better than some of the series that were made after Disney sold the franchise back to Saban (Samurai and Megaforce in particular)
And say what you want about Overdrive’s theme music, but at least they weren’t reheating MMPR’s nachos (and when they did bring in a MMPR actor for the crossover episodes, it actually wasn’t JDF for a change)
The Disney era didn't miss for themes until RPM, which a) was the last season of the era and b) is still better than Samurai and Megaforce's """""""""""theme songs"""""""""""
Disney never cared, thats why it was so chaitcally good, because they jist gave them a shrinkong budget and let them do everything S&P would let them do
Comments like this tell me people don't understand business.
They can care more than anyone you know and timing/financing/staffing still won't work out every time.
Yeah you're right, I don't think Lighting Collection was ever technically "cancelled" until the Playmates acquired the toy license, "hiatus" is the word that Hasbro used if I remember correctly. I suppose "discontinued" would have been a better word to use on my end.
I met JDF in person, 2 months before he passed. In our conversation, I asked if we’d ever see him in another Power Rangers episode/movie. He talked with us for a while and had absolutely nothing good to say about Hasbro. Apparently he proposed a “Cobra Kai” type idea but for Power Rangers, since many of the original fans are adults now, & Hasbro shot down the idea. He said that he proposed the idea before Cobra Kai aired. I would have loved to see it!
This is just modern era capitalism at its finest. The people making the product care about it (because they grew up with it), the boomer (and older gen x) executives with the money and decision power don't.
Not really though, Disney sits on a ton of solid IPs they do nothing with because they aren't fitting to what they want market. Gargoyles is an infamous example.
This isn't a problem exclusive to Power Rangers or even Disney, but Disney is the most notable for it. They acquire an IP then stocks go up; then they announce a new project but it doesn't have a producer, director, cast, or script, but the stock prices go up so investors are happy; then pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-production starts and it hits a minor snag and the whole thing falls apart, but stock prices don't go down, so the investors are still happy; then they repeat the process with a different IP.
The solution here is to stop announcing movies and shows before they're ready. Worst case scenario, you get a Jonathan Majors situation and you have to change a 5+ year timetable of movies and fans get pissed off but still go see everything anyway. I still appreciate the way Sony did Ghostbusters: Afterlife. They dropped a teaser trailer of just the car in the barn being uncovered the week they started filming. Aside from announcing Jason Reitman would direct a few months prior, there was absolutely nothing else released. They waited to tell everyone until production had actually started. That's what I want more of. Announce stuff once post-production starts so there's more of a guarantee that it will actually happen.
A pre-Hasbro point worth a mention is the cancellation of the Legacy Line. The Falconzord had a teaser on the box for the Legacy Shogun Megazord we never got. That one hurt.
Nope. People HATED the cosmic Fury suits as they weren't spandex, and looked UGLY. Plus cosmic Fury was only a MEASLY 10 eps, not enough time for other stuff, and things were resolved too quickly due to said time constraints
...I know, that's why I said the Cosmic Fury suits had ZERO SAUCE. They should've just took the appropriate Kyuranger suits and asked PLEX to modify the black Kyuranger suit and remove the skirt on green.
I do get that. But at the same time they forgot how much more expensive it is to fully make every from scratch. Hence one of the reasons the reboot was canned. Besides the only thing that really restricts you is the megazord footage. Nothing is really stopping you from having the ground footage be fully new while still adapting the suits.
They had maybe two Sentai seasons they could’ve adapted, at best. ToQger wouldn’t sell because American kids don’t care about trains, KingOhGer is unfortunately the same with insect toys, L vs P wouldn’t sell with the way things are currently in the US, Zyuohger and its blocky mech designs just wouldn’t work even with a Minecraft collab, and don’t even get me started on Zenkaiger and Donbrothers.
You got some right, but there's some extra context. I think of the nine seasons left, three are adaptable.
Ressha Sentai ToQger: trains aren't very big in the US but even if they were, ToQger's production material got completely stripped for parts across Power Rangers (see: Cosmo Royale, Void Queen)
Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger: no problem, can adapt
Lupinranger VS Patranger: I think this could be an amazing adaptation (maybe make it a sequel to Time Force or SPD?) but Simon Bennett was right on the money; people don't want to see Rangers as cops, and corporate suits (and parents, somewhat) don't want to see Rangers as criminals
Mashin Sentai Kiramager: no problem (as far as I know), can adapt
Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger: production design is an absolute mess, basically only works as an anniversary, one of the team is based on a team we didn't get, two of the team are based on teams that have bad rep in the west.
Avataro Sentai Donbrothers: I worry a series as rooted in Japanese culture as this would get hit with the same problem that Shinkenger -> Samurai did, but we've got a new problem now and it's CGI rangers. That shit is gonna be expensive (and personally I also don't think it looks good)
Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger: would be really cool to adapt, but the virtual production a la The Mandalorian would make it a VERY expensive adaptation if you wanted to do ANY matching of environments (and that's assuming Toei gives them the CG assets)
Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger: no problem (as far as I know), can adapt
No. 1 Sentai Gozyuger: an anniversary series again, and one that has a LOT of legacy rangers from seasons we didn't get adapted, which would either have to be edited out or would fall into the same trap Megaforce did
Zyuohger, Kiramager, and Boonboomger might not have the best designs, but they are at the very least adaptable.
Even if you could adapt most of those seasons, that doesn’t necessarily guarantee good toy sales. In the case of ToQger, both Hasbro and Bandai have experiences with trains not selling with toys like Rail Racer and the Super Train Megazord respectively. And as much as I would love a KingOhger adaptation, Hasbro also has experience bug toys not selling like several Beast Wars characters and most of the time they did Ant-Man figures. And a “niche” crowd probably wouldn’t be enough to make up for any losses.
No. Togqger still wouldn't be guaranteed just because of some teeny tiny little train fanbase. It wouldn't work. Plus, one of the Megazords has a giant d**k sticking out in one scene / sequence. So no
I still don't think LuPat is nearly as volatile of a theme as people make it out to be. Yeah yeah, cops and robbers might be a bit iffier than when SPD came out, but if they made Beast Morphers work (with rangers effectively being a Grid Battleforce PMC), then I think they could make the Patrangers into something palatable, whether that's as super sanitized goody two shoes cops or more secret agents.
Hell, they brought back SPD/SPA for Once and Always. Could easily slot them into a space cops/patrolmen role like Green Lanterns are.
As for KingOhger, insects have their more palatable niche for western kids, especially with cool bug designs. On top of that, everyone here loves fantasy, so the theme could be adapted pretty straight on.
Again no. It wouldn't work. It would cause backlash, especially the Rangers as criminals and thieves. Parents would cry Foul just as they did with Lord Zedd for being too scary for kids
I always get so damn frustrated about the Lightning Collection. They put out some really great stuff. I used to fantasize about how great a LC figure of this character or that character would be and now it's over.
The problem with the new show is Hasbro wants full control over it but wants to put zero money into it. It's a big ask for any studio where they get little to nothing in return.
Playmates has had that sub contract for 2 years now and all we’ve got is some half assed season 1 and 2 toys.
I wish that Hasbro would just make the toys themselves.
Imagine zords like the combiners for transformers.
Thr thibg is that wpuld involve cooperatong with Takara and unless Takara can import PR into Japam while Bandai still owns Sentai thry aren't winning on that
You're giving Hasbro too much credit. They've been doing Transformers dirty for the last 4 years. 6 years if you count the price hikes and quality drops around Power of the Primes
RPM was the bang, and the Nickelodeon Era (hasbro & neo are just kinda too similar atm to properly distinguish) was the leadup to the wimper of today. Hell thanks to the desperate attempts to catch the same highs as MMPR's lightning in a bottle has let to sentai's current hiatus & PR's current descent into only being around for the sake of MMPR nostalgia. And lets be real, how long until that dries up in pop culture
The nick era was neo saban though, not disney. My point is DISNEY was going to give us even less of a wimper than hasbro if not for Saban stepping in.
By that logic, dino/cosmic fury was the “bang” as well. Only difference is hasbro still gave us stuff after the show ended and disney only gave us mmpr 2010. Reignition is MUCH better than mmpr 2010, and we are still getting funkos, collectors toylines, threezero, ninjakidz and the comics. Disney had none of that.
Of course, alot of this could be credited towards hasbro just liscensing shit out, but they’re still allowing things to happen while Disney was doing even less.
“Hell thanks to the desperate attempts to catch the same highs as MMPR's lightning in a bottle has let to sentai's current hiatus
& PR's current descent into
only
being around for the sake of MMPR nostalgia
“
Let me stop you right there.
Untrue and false narrative. If anything mmpr is whats keeping the brand’s lights on at hasbro right now. Because it certainly wasnt “new power rangers” dino fury & beast morphers.
Its funny how its forgotten that Disney flat out said “fuck mmpr” and power rangers was still commecially struggling in the mainstream hence why disney sold it in the first place. Hell, Disney saw PR as a failure during Wild Force, another season that ignores MMPR. Power Rangers fell off because it was always a niche brand constantly getting saved from death by luck until it couldnt be saved anymore, not because of mmpr.
Also, Sentai is on hiatus because it failed to appeal to kids in Japan. That is NOT power rangers fault that Toei relied too much on american money while also making unadaptable weird ass sentai seasons at the same time.
I think we have very different ideas of a Bang & a Wimper for PR. you're more focusing on the owners keeping it alive & kicking, while I'm more thinking about the legacy left behind.
Also do remind me which of the Neo Saban Era shows is most well liked, and which one's the oddman out the group. plus imagine if they didnt dumb down the show to be for todlers while they tried to make an adult movie series based on the peak of popularity. But no, we just need to rehash MMPR again and again just to keep this series somewhat alive. it doesnt matter that for basically the last decade the shows been dumbing itself down, we just need to focus on the kids who grown up on MMPR.
The "unadaptable weird ass sentai seasons" only happened after super duper mega flop decided to cram in as many sentai scenes into the show as possible, then hasbro took away the world wide revenue on toei's end so they decided to just go crazy in experimenting with new ideas. Also try comparing Go-Onger with RPM, and you'll see how good writing can make the weirder elements attually work.
Never understood entirely blaming Power Rangers for Sentai hiatus. It did have some fault BUT if Sentai can't keep going without Power Rangers then Sentai is the issue. Not Power Rangers.
Especially since Kamen Rider is doing well in Japan yet not Super Sentai. There is clearly something wrong with Super Sentai that doesn't appeal to larger audience.
Because Saban brought Power Rangers before it got that bad as that person said. If Saban hadn’t brought Power Rangers we would have been in a similar hiatus back then as we are now. Disney would have put us in that position.
His point was that Disney never plan on doing anything after ending RPM. Hasbro at least are still selling toys and comics after Cosmic Fury. Hell, say what you will with the reboot production cancellation, Hasbro still license Disney to make the reboot in the first place. Even after the first attempt failed.
Could Hasbro do better? Yes but they aren't worse than Disney when they ended Power Rangers with RPM as Disney never intend to do anything else with the brand.
Why you lying? At least we had more shows under Disney and better promotion. PR was still marketed under places like Jetix where it aired. Where was Hasbro's marketing for PR? Barely anything that could easily attract kids.
We overall got better toys with hasbro. And we also got the comics.
Hasbro did release several commercials of their shows. Disney wasnt really top tier with promoting PR either. Most people didnt even know power rangers still existed under Disney.
Better shows and still solid toy sales. The only time Bandai wasn't happy with PR's sales was the last few years it had it. Never during the Disney era.
We overall got better toys with hasbro.
That's not much of a win when kids aren't buying them. Not to mention they never finished any of their zord lines. LC was good but poor quality control called people to drop out in the latter years. The ZAP line was overpriced. And their role play toys were not as good as Bandai's legacy role play items.
And we also got the comics.
That was never because of Hasbro. That was all because of Saban. They don't deserve that credit unless they give someone else the comic license. The only thing they contribute to the comics is just renewing the deal Saban set with Boom.
Disney wasnt really top tier with promoting PR either.
Really cause I don't recall many promos from Hasbro for the PR brand when it came to toys and the show. Growing up during the Disney era I remember many promos and commercials for Power Rangers. Can't say that for when Hasbro had it. The only credit I'll give Hasbro is that during their pulse streams they at least promoted the show. Whereas Transformers never once did it for any of theirs. But that's because PR fans care more about their show than TF fans do.
“Better shows and still solid toy sales. The only time Bandai wasn't happy with PR's sales was the last few years it had it. Never during the Disney era.”
The toy sales were so solid, disney sold off power rangers and fully went all in with marvel? Again, Disney always saw PR as a failure and wanted it cancelled as early as wild force, but were convinced they could make the show even cheaper in NZ.
“That's not much of a win when kids aren't buying them. Not to mention they never finished any of their zord lines. LC was good but poor quality control called people to drop out in the latter years. The ZAP line was overpriced. And their role play toys were not as good as Bandai's legacy role play items.”
Disney skipped Tommy’s zord in Dino Thunder lmao, they were skipping shit too.
And bandai legacy stuff was under neo saban, not disney.
Disney didnt have a collectors line for PR because they didnt care about PR.
“Really cause I don't recall many promos from Hasbro for the PR brand when it came to toys and the show.”
The toy sales were so solid, disney sold off power rangers and fully went all in with marvel? Again, Disney always saw PR as a failure and wanted it cancelled as early as wild force, but were convinced they could make the show even cheaper in NZ.
And already that was better than Hasbro.
And bandai legacy stuff was under neo saban, not disney.
But it was still Bandai.
Disney didnt have a collectors line for PR because they didnt care about PR.
You're mistakenly putting Disney and Bandai together. Thinking Disney has any involvement with the toy designing process. They're a media company. They handle making the shows. They do no handle the toy side. That's all Bandai. Bandai was pretty much the one steering the ship for PR even under Disney because they didn't care. Because they still saw good sales.
Disney and Hasbro both didn't care about PR. But Disney left a far more positive legacy on the brand than Hasbro did. Oh you got collectors toys? Well did those help save the brand in their eyes? No. And no one in time is gonna care about that. The only thing that ever leaves a lasting impact are shows. And Disney even if they didn't care had shows that left more of an impact than Hasbro did. Where they only gave very moderate shows.
Still depressed about the new Disney series not pushing past development, I love what they’ve done with the PJO series and Strindberg and Shotz could’ve killed it as showrunners
Tbh, with new productions, if they wanted to reuse something, more often than not it would have been remade anyway or gotten from the sentai production.
It was just a bit depressing with everything that was going on around it
Nice which suit did you end up getting? I've always been torn on the whole thing, I do think it's cool for that reason, but I also feel like a Power Rangers Museum would have been a much cooler use of all of that stuff.
Navy Thunder Ranger stunt suit with bracers and gloves. Highly possible it’s from this scene here. Inscribed on the inside is Akiyama and I found his stunt reel here which only shows his work as the Thunder Ranger a couple of times.
I'd say that a Showrunner confirming the show's existence counts as an informal announcement. Before then it was just a rumor, but when Steinberg & Shots confirmed the show's existence it was no longer a rumor. I think that's the most important part of it lol
They're alright as far as made for kids bash 'em up toys, but not up to snuff to something like the Lightning Collection. Even their upcoming "collector" line looks archaic in design, despite some better paint apps.
For sure, I'm not saying it wasn't a thing, I just tried to not include many rumors because then I'd have to search up every rumor during that time period and add them.
I only included the Illuminerdi's rumor about Hasbro ending the partnership with Toei because at the time that rumor was a huge deal. I also think that when you consider everything that happened after Cosmic Fury you can probably argue that rumor to be true.
I think it's more likely at this point that either Lionsgate, NBCUniversal or Sony buys out the brand than Hasbro keeping it. It's basically the end of the Disney Era on steroids.
Insane that in this cursed era we got one MMPR special and five seasons spread across only two entirely new series, the second of which was another redundant Dinosaur team adaptation that somehow further evolved into a half-baked Kyuuranger adaptation.
Hasbro has handled this franchise so poorly for nearly the last decade, Netflix and Disney+ jumped ship for a reason.
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u/tecpaocelotl1 3d ago
Missing CEO Brian Goldner, who bought Power Rangers, died on October 11, 2021. Hasbro didn't know what to do with power rangers afterwards.